The gorgeous Pininfarina Battista is coming to Goodwood

The world’s gone mad. Literally mad. So take a moment, and remind yourself that the Pininfarina Battista exists. It is the most powerful road car ever to come out of Italy, and now it’s coming to Britain.

Specifically, the Goodwood Members’ Meeting next month, where the 1,900bhp electric hypercar will make its UK debut. Look upon the Battista’s lines as a balm to ease the pain of a world gone mad.

Truth be told, the Battista’s looks may soothe, but it houses a powertrain capable of triggering heart palpitations. Underneath the carbon fibre body and monocoque sit four electric motors – one on each wheel – fed by batteries to allow for that rather large horsepower figure, and 0-62mph in less than two seconds. And 186mph in under 12secs.

Fast then, and pretty. “It takes back some of the beauty of the 1960s,” Automobili Pininfarina chief designer Luca Borgogno told TG a while back. “Look at the cars in our museum: what really strikes you is the purity and beauty.”

Ah yes, history. Pininfarina’s been busy over the years, and will showcase the Battista at Goodwood alongside something a little older: a 1955 Lancia Aurelia owned by the Duke of Richmond.

And alongside a Nick Heidfeld, too. Heidfeld is the development driver for the Battista – a man who has to turn 1,900bhp worth of electric earthquake into something that’ll be fun to drive.

Not that power’s got anything to do with it, of course. “For me, some of the most fun cars I’ve driven were not necessarily the most expensive and most powerful,” he told TG late last year. He told us if the Battista could respond like a McLaren 570S, he’d be happy.

No doubt he’ll be happy returning to Goodwood, too; Nick’s still the quickest driver to have ever raced up the estate's hillclimb. Wonder if they’ll let him loose in the Battista at the Festival of Speed later in the year...